Ichigo Versus Ulquiorra, episode 272,, continued,,
by Dustal Gray
Summary: Bleach, continued from epsideo 272-- my version of what I think will happen next.


**5/19/10** — (After watching episode 271 of Bleach through Youtube, I felt like making a continuation. I favor Ulquiorra, so I threw in his POV(Point Of View)...enjoy. There's probably mis-spelled "Japanese" words, but just ignore it; we can't all be nerds. If you're a fan of bleach, but aren't up-to-date on the television series, I recommend you_ do not _read this.)

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_Ichigo...Kurosaki..._

He was no more. He had become a Hollow, or possibly the very fiber of an Arrancar,

He was more powerful than before– but he had been dead.

_Impossible..! _But no matter how many times he denied Ichigo's transformation, Ulquiorra would find himself beat down by the massive Hollow that towered over him.

Ichigo raised his white talon-foot and crushed Ulquiorra's head, keeping him from moving. Pinned to the earth, Ulquiorra told Ichigo to kill him, saying it would truly prove he was a merciless Hollow.

Hesitating only for a second, Ichigo formed a red cero between his horns, and let it fly down on his victim.

The earth was torn away around him; flying into the sky, blown away by sheer force. Ichigo flew into the air as well, gliding across the sky until he stood still.

Below on the ground, Ulquiorra trembled. He had multiple wounds all over his chest, wings shredded, a horn broken off. One of his arms were missing. But slowly, slowly, he was already regenerating.

Holding a barrier between the wreckage, Orihime stood beside Ishida, who both gave a gasp of surprise as the Espada rose to his feet, shaking, bleeding black blood into the earth. He gave a ragged cough, blood spurting from his mouth, eyes wide with pain.

The Hollow appeared in front of him in an instant, his long, orange hair flailing from the wind.

"Ichigo," Ulquiorra said tonelessly, his eyes narrowing slightly. "You are useless to your friends if you cannot control what you are. You are Hollow. You are finished."

With a long, savage roar breaking from his rows of fang teeth, the Hollow ducked his head and ran, stabbing the Espada through the left shoulder with one of his horns. Using shinpo, Ichigo went faster and faster towards a pillar, the world blazing by in a blur.

Ulquiorra stared at the Hollow in wonder._ Ironic...This is not how I wanted to die... _he thought. _Not by a Hollow..._

Ichigo dove at the pillar, slamming the Espada into it. The pillar collapsed on top on of them as Ichigo jumped back, roaring once more, his body glowing a harsh red.

"Kurosaki-kun!" screamed Orihime.

"Inoune!" said Ishida, grabbing her arm as she tried to run towards them. "It's all right." he said, smiling at her. "Ichigo will be fine."

Orihime bit her lip, gazing off in the distance with a growing sense of fear for her friend. "I'm not afraid that he will not make it..." she said quietly. "I'm afraid he wont...come back to us."

Ishida said nothing, uncertainty blocking his throat. Following her gaze, the Quincy stared as the pillar fell apart before their eyes.

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Pain...it filled every pore in my body. It burned within my arms even as they regenerated. It made a nest in my brain, even as I tried to block it with my thoughts...

_Ichigo...you have defeated me..._

I have proved myself useless by losing to him. I am useless to Aizen, now...there is no way he would want me as an Espada...it is with pride that I die knowing this is a fight I can not win. But this...Hollow...he has lost his pride. He has become what Hueco Mondo intended for all of us to become; a merciless, soul-consuming Hollow...and nothing more.

I stood up from the wreckage of the pillar, and saw my enemy staring down at me from the sky, the moon casting a fierce glow in his eyes.

"Ichigo..." the name hardly falls out of my mouth before he stands in front of me once more. He raised his zanpocto high above me to deliver the final blow. But there is still time.

I raise up my arm and deflect his weapon, and I saw something in his eyes that made my soul quiver. He looked at me...as if he wanted to eat me. I felt my eyes widen with shock, and in that moment I had dropped my guard. Ichigo swung his sword around, bringing it through my heart.

He slung up his weapon– me attached– and aimed his horns to my face.

I hung limply from the sword, known as Zangetsu..._Ironic, though... it seemed that he never needed to rely on his sword in this transformation_. He was a power-crazed machine. I tilted my head to look at him, my wings lifeless at my sides.

He stared back, the red light burning around him.

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Ichigo began to build the red cero between his horns, when a loud voice calling his name interrupted him.

"Kurosaki-kun!" she cried. "Kurosaki-kun..!" tears fell freely from her face. "Ichigo, please!" she sobbed. "It's over! You've won! Please, stop it!"

"Inoune..." said Ishida quietly.

She looked at him. "Uryuu..." she whispered. "Please...he doesn't have to kill anymore..."

Ishida looked over where the Hollow stood, so far away, the winged Espada hanging from the blade of his sword, not bothering to raise his head.

"Orihime...." said Ichigo quietly, his voice a low, rattling of a Hollow. The sword holding up the Espada shook as the Hollow gazed over at where the girl and the Quincy stood. "Orihime..."

Ulquiorra stared at Ichigo, fascinated._ How can this be that he has control over himself? After he has changed so much...gained so much power...?_

"Kurosaki-kun..." whispered back Orihime, tears drawing lines down her face.

"Let him go, Ichigo!" shouted Ishida. "It's over!"

"Don't listen to them..." said the Espada quietly.

Ichigo flinched, and looked at Ulquiorra.

"You have every right to kill me." he answered. "Who was it that wounded you, left you for dead? Who was it who threatened Inoune's life? Who–"

Ichigo slung the Espada into the air, his body slipping wetly off of the blade, blood raining down from his wounds. "_Hhhraaaaaaaaarrrrhhh_!" screamed Ichigo, grabbing his sword with both hands, lighting up in flames of destruction.

Since he had been regenerating, the Espada was able to use his wing and fly up into the sky and avoid Ichigo's sword. But in an instant Ichigo appeared beside Ulquiorra, still screaming, and he knocked him out of the sky.

The Espada shot down like a crashing rocket, the impact blowing up shards of the earth.

"Ichigo!" shouted Ishida, stepping forward.

The Hollow roared, and his body twisted and grew, building his arms nearly twice as large, his horns more twisted, and much more sharp.

"No...no!" said Orihime, shaking her head. Ishida stood beside her, watching as the Espada stood once more and he lit up in a fury of dark green. He concurred up his long spear-like weapon of green spiritual particles and turned his head towards them.

Orihime gasped. _His eyes._..she thought. _He's so sad...he...he _wants_ to die...!_ _Why would some one give up to the point that they no longer keep on moving? Why would he–_

"Inoune!" Ishida shouted.

The green spear flew through the air towards them at an amazing speed.

Orihime threw up her hands. "S-sangen-keshu, I reject!" The barrier formed swiftly, but the weapon would surely break it– even keep going and hurt them.

Foreseeing this, Ishida stood in front of Orihime protectively.

Orihime's eyes widened, and Ishida winced, both waiting for the damage to be done.

Ichigo appeared quite suddenly between the barrier and the spear, his back to them, hair dancing in the air. He reached out and grabbed the spear, then vanished.

Orihime gasped.

Ulquiorra watched with growing depression as Ichigo appeared one place, then the other, flashing back and forth, holding the Espada's own weapon.

"Impossible..." the word slipped smoothly off his lips.

They collided in the sky, shedding blood. The blue wave of the explosion shattered the remaining pillars left standing, and the barrier Orihime broke was destroyed; Ishida turned and hugged on to her, flying debris cutting into his perfect white clothes.

"Ishida-...kun..." whispered Orihime with gratitude.

Up in the sky, one man fell while the other burned scarlet.

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_At this rate I will never get what I want_, thought Ulquiorra as he fell. _He is toying with me. No...stalling. But why?_

The Hollow grabbed me before I fell, his arms sweeping around my body, in almost a brotherly manner. I slid my weary eyes to gaze into his, and I reminded._ He was not toying with me... he was protecting his pride, his friends...he had a heart, so he is showing me mercy... How annoying_... I closed my eyes. _Hollows are not supposed to show mercy. It is impossible for them to have a heart– or even a soul. _I have no strength to open my eyes...I am still regenerating. I felt him land on the earth with ease, his breath hissing from between in teeth.

Ichigo. Hollow. I see the difference now...

"Kurosaki-kun!"

I can hear that girl's cries. I feel the earth move beneath her stumbling feet. She is in love with this Kurosaki man..._But how can a beauty love a beast? _I found myself answering my own question: _because the beast still holds true to his humanity._

"Ichigo!" it's the Quincy, now. He must have road on his gathered particles and lifted himself and the girl to us.

I can feel Ichigo's stomach muscles tense, his heart race, his breath grow more ragged than before. I open my eyes and look up into the face of the Hollow. But his eyes...deep within his Hollowfication, there is the brave soul of a man named Kurosaki. My enemy.

I must destroy him...

I must regain my honor as Aizen's Espada!

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"Kurosaki-kun–" Orihime is cut off when Ulquiorra points his finger into Ichigo's face and builds a cero.

With a loud roar, Ichigo simply crushes the Espada's hand in his own, screaming louder as Ulquiorra's eyes widen and he gasps in pain. The Hollow slams the winged Espada into the ground, spikes of earth flying up around them.

He pins him down, a clawed foot digging into Ulquiorra's chest, red cero sucking the darkness from the world, building strength.

"Ichigo!"

"Nooo!"

The cero bursts out.

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I am going everywhere...but never moving.

I am flying through the world...as nothing.

I am the world...but I am also the world's destruction.

When Ichigo released his cero, I could have sworn I had died.

But no...I laid on my back, gazing at my world as it slowly starts to crumble.

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Blood sprays up violently from wounds freshly made, and Ichigo takes a step back, watching Ulquiorra bleed. He begins to cough, body trembling.

From the sidelines, Ishida and Orihime watch with their mouths gapped open.

Ichigo placed his weapon firmly against Ulquiorra's neck as he struggled to swallow his own blood. "Ich..chi-...go..." he stammered.

The Hollow said nothing, only his muscles tensing up, wanting to kill.

His green-olive eyes pierced into Ichigo's Hollowed-golden ones. "You have won... finish me off..."

But Ichigo hesitated.

"Aizen will be most displeased..." the Espada said softly. "...that I lost, and you lived..."

"Aizen is a bretrayer!" shouted Ishida. "He's probably been using you just like everyone else!"

"It does not matter." said Ulquiorra.

Silence spread across the group as they stared at the dying Espada.

"Finish me..." said Ulquiorra. "Finish me, Ichigo Kurosaki..."

Ichigo felt something within him soften. But he knew it must be done. He cast his eyes over to Ishida, who nodded firmly.

As Ishida turned Orihime away gently, Ichigo beheaded the Espada. A moment later, his body burned with a green darkness, and blew away into the wind.

Turning back to Ichigo, Orihime saw him staring off into void, watching the spirit of Ulquiorra race to hell.

"Kurosaki-kun..." Orihime said softly.

He looked at her for a few seconds, then raised his hand to his face and began pulling his mask off. Using both hands now, he pulled and pulled, his Hollow-side screaming into the night, while Ichigo's scream were quiet, then growing louder as they fought for control.

Ishida and Orihime watched in horror, tense.

Ichigo, still holding onto his face, thrashed, his great body slashing the air.

"Let's go!" shouted Ishida, and he took hold of Orihime's hand and ran, just in case there would be a random explosion of reiasi.

"_Grrrrraaahhhhhhh_!" shrieked the Hollow behind them.

_Kurosaki-kun._.. Orihime thought desperately, glancing behind to see Ichigo fall over on his side, kicking his massive white legs.

The Quincy and girl hid behind a fallen pillar while Ichigo struggled with his mask.

When he finally took it off, his Hollow shell-like form crumbled away from him. Standing as a regular Shinigami, his eyes fading from gold, to brown, Ichigo took a long breath of fresh air before closing his eyes and falling to forward.

"Ichigo!" Ishida leapt from behind the pillar, racing to his friend as he hit the ground, Orihime running from behind, sending out her barrier to heal Ichigo.

As the two friends sat in silence, they wondered if Ichigo would make it.

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End file.
